-LRB- Mashable -RRB- -- Sony is not having a good year . As the company scrambles to get the PlayStation Network and Qriocity music service back online , it 's suffering from yet another security breach .

This time it 's a hacker attack on various websites associated with Sony Pictures .

A team of individuals going by the name LulzSec , who recently managed to deface PBS.org 's homepage , announced that they have broken into SonyPictures.com and compromised more than 1 million user accounts . An additional 75,000 music codes and 3.5 million coupons were also uncovered .

The attack , part of a campaign known as Sownage , was announced on Twitter and on the LulzSec website .

LulzSec said that it did n't have enough resources to copy all the data that it was able to access . But the group did manage to grab a collection of databases that contain thousands of usernames .

The accounts , presumably associated with any sort of registered activity on SonyPictures.com -LRB- or its subsidiaries or partners -RRB- , contain information like passwords , email addresses , dates of birth and other Sony opt-in data .

This certainly is n't as dangerous as the information that was exposed during the PSN hack , but it could still be used to gather access to more important accounts elsewhere .

The scariest part of this attack is n't what was taken , but how easy it was for the LulzSec members to take it . According to the groups own press release , access to the main Sony Pictures website was gained using a very basic tactic called a SQL injection .

We have n't had a chance to examine the released files to see what this injection was , but it 's likely that an out-of-date software stack and relatively unprotected web server made passing the injection trivial .

LulzSec says that all of the information it took was unencrypted .

`` Sony stored over 1,000,000 passwords of its customers in plaintext , '' says the hackers ' press release , `` which means it 's just a matter of taking it . ''

Seeing as this is the second security breach of a major Sony-branded website in just outside of a week , we have to ask : Is anyone at Sony employed to handle web security ?

Sure , managing a large number of brands and properties that are often connected in name only has to be a challenge , not to mention the logistical and administrative challenges of managing websites that can store millions of user profiles . Still , that does n't make up for what by all appearances is an abysmal security record .

LulzSec has been on a tear , infiltrating the websites and databases for the UK television program , `` The X Factor , '' parts of Fox.com , Sonymusic.co.jp and many parts of PBS.org in the past three weeks alone .

The attacks , while often juvenile in nature and execution -LRB- the Lulzsecurity.com website plays the theme from `` The Love Boat '' -RRB- , underscore just how important it is for brands to keep their web servers updated , hardened and monitored . In the age of simple publishing tools like WordPress , it 's easy for managers to underestimate the importance of having someone on contract or on staff to keep data encrypted and protected .

We can only hope the most recent cyber attacks convince executives to think seriously about investing in online security .

See the original article on Mashable.com

© 2010 MASHABLE.com . All rights reserved .

@highlight

This is the second security breach at Sony in just over a week

@highlight

Hacker LulzSec announces they have compromised more than 1 million user accounts

@highlight

Attacks underscore just how important it is for brands to keep their web servers updated